The latest on California politics and government

May 31, 2013

The two-house conference committee tasked with resolving revenue and expenditure differences and writing a final 2013-14 state budget convened Friday afternoon, and the multifaceted conflicts quickly emerged.

Not only do the Assembly and Senate disagree on a number of specific spending issues, but they jointly disagree with Gov. Jerry Brown on how much money the state has to spend and proposed to commit about $2 billion more than he wants.

"At this point the administration is not comfortable with either of the budgets in conference," Brown's deputy finance director, Michael Cohen, told the committee.

The three-way conflict - Republicans on the committee generally back the governor - was laid out by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor in a summary report as the committee met and jousted over the macro-issues before beginning an item-by-item review.

The meeting began 15 days before the constitutional deadline for enacting a budget - one that, if not met, could result in legislators having their salaries suspended. That happened in 2011. Last year, the deadline was met.